 |
NAME James Robert Hutchens, Jr. |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER 343504 |
|
| UNIT Company B First Battalion 8th Marines |
HOME OF RECORD Woods-Smith Road Knoxville, TN |
NEXT OF KIN Father, Mr. James Hutchens, Sr. |
||
| DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1920 |
ENTERED SERVICE January 22, 1942 |
DATE OF LOSS November 24, 1942 |
||
| REGION Solomon Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Guadalcanal |
CASUALTY TYPE Killed In Action |
||
| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS Private James R. Hutchens, Jr., served with Company B, 8th Marines during the battle of Guadalcanal.On 24 November 1942, with their attack to the west stymied by strong Japanese defenses, the 8th Marines maintained defensive positions and began sending out combat patrols – “the result of which is not in our favor due to enemy snipers” noted the war diary of the First Battalion. The 2nd Platoon of B/1/8 attempted to scale Hill 83, but ran into the same network of hidden machine guns and snipers that defeated previous attacks. One of the casualties was Private Hutchens. He was reported to be buried in the field on 24 November, but the location could not later be found. |
||||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS Purple Heart |
LAST KNOWN RANK Private |
STATUS OF REMAINS Buried in the field. |
MEMORIALS Manila American Cemetery |
|
Biography:
Coming soon. Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.
Articles & Records:
This sketch by Guadalcanal veteran Herschel Wilsky shows the ravine in which B/1/8 found themselves on 24 November 1942. Notice “PFC Hitchens” [sic] at the top of the ridge, with the additional notation “can’t recover him.”